In Reno's long-awaited win over Reed, a star is born in Mallory McGwire

The Reno High girls basketball team has had a mental block the past four seasons.

You can call it the Reed High Mental Block or the Gabby Williams Mental Block. You just can’t ignore it. Until now.

That mental block came crashing down Friday night at Reed High School when the Huskies rode a 17-0 shutout in the fourth quarter to beat Reed, 46-33, before about 400 fired-up fans.

Prior to Friday’s game, Reno was just 1-8 against Reed since Williams’ freshman season in 2010-11, with the lone win coming when Williams tore her ACL last season. Reed had owned Reno, including a three-point with over the Huskies earlier this season in Williams’ first game back from her ACL injury.

“We’ve had that mental block about beating Reed and beating Gabby since my freshman year,” Reno High senior Morgan McGwire said. “Breaking that down is amazing.”

Mallory McGwire, left, had a huge game to help life Reno past Reed on Friday night. (Tom Smedes/RGJ)

On a night in which all eyes were on Williams, who entered the game doubtful with a sprained knee, it was another player who stole the show: Reno’s 6-foot-4 sophomore center Mallory McGwire.

The budding star scored 12 points, had 13 rebounds, blocked seven shots and had four steals. She made several crucial plays in the fourth quarter as Reno rallied from a four-point deficit entering the fourth.

McGwire, who was coming off a 35-point, 17-rebound, six-block performance in her last game, showed why she’s the heir apparent to Williams, the UConn-bound stud who finished with a game-high 16 points before having to exit the game with three minutes remaining because of the right knee injury.

Williams, the best female basketball player in Northern Nevada history, strikes fear in the heart of most of her opponents. But not in the heart of McGwire, who blocked a pair of Williams’ shots.

“Mallory is not afraid,” Reno High coach Shane Foster said. “She’ll go mix it up. She did block a couple of her shots and she got aggressive with her, which is good.”

A more bashful McGwire said of the blocks on Williams: “I was super surprised. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do that against such a great player.”

This was a team win. Shalen Shaw scored 10 and held Reed’s Tyler Sumpter to three points (18 below her average). Freshman Dominique Harding scored a game-high 13 and Morgan McGwire added eight.

But the best player on the floor in a game that featured five future Division I players (six if you count Savannah Schulze, bound for Stanford to play softball) was Mallory McGwire. She was a disruptive force in the paint. She was the difference-maker. And the crazy thing is she’s just a sophomore.

With a handful of college coaches on hand, including Nevada’s Jane Albright, McGwire showed she’s ready for the big time. When her signing day gets here in November 2015, she’ll have her pick of big-time schools.

“I’m so proud of her,” said Morgan McGwire, who will play for Santa Clara next season. “I get chills watching her. That’s my younger sister. I’m so proud of her and so happy I’ve had the chance to play with her.”

While this was the last regular-season meeting between the teams, it won’t be the last time they play each other. A rematch in the regional championships is almost assured. With the Reed High Mental Block broken down, Reno can now carry some confidence into a potential third matchup.

“We just needed to get this win because they’re going to believe now and when it comes down to the stretch again they can look back at this fourth quarter and say, ‘We’ve done this before and we can do this again if we have to,’” Foster said.

There’s plenty of reason for Reno to be confident. After all, they have Mallory McGwire.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at cmurray@rgj.com or follow him on Twitter @MurrayRGJ.